124 cxLvii. PALM^ (weight). [Medemia. 



Seed much longer than broad 1. M. Argun. 



Seeds nearly as broad as long . . . . . 2. M. ahiadensis. 



1. M, Argun, P. G. von Wiirttembei'g ex Mart. Palm. iii. 227. 

 Fruit ellipsoid, dull brown, 22 lin. long, 17 lin. in diam., bitter, not 

 edible. Seed ellipsoid, 17 lin. long, 12-14 lin. in diam. — Wendl. in 

 Bot. Zeit. 1881, 93 ; Drude in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 111. HypJicene Arguriy 

 Mart, Palm. iii. 227 ; Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 291. 



le'lle Ijand. Nubia and Kordofan, between 20° and 21° N., Kotschy, and 

 Prince Paul Wilhelm of Wiirttemherg (ex Martius), Schweinfurth ! Wady Delah, 

 near Murat in the Great Nubian Desert, between Korosko and Aboo Hammed, 

 Vossiau ! 



Steps have been taken by the Government to preserve the grove at Wady Delah,. 

 which was in danger of extermination by the inhabitants, who use the leaves for 

 making matting. 



2. M, abiadensis, Wendl. in Bot. Zeit. 1881, 93. Fruit ellipsoid^ 

 bright brown, 18-19 lin. long, 14-15 lin. in diam. Seeds 12-13 lin. 

 long, 10-11 lin. in diam. — Drude in Engl. Jahrb. xxi. 111. 



irile land. On the White Nile, Armand. 



13. BL^IS, Jaeq. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 944. 



Male flowers : Sepals linear or lanceolate, concave, imbricate. Petals 

 smaller and thinner than the sepals, valvate. Stamens 6 ; filaments 

 connate into a thick fleshy cylindrical tube below, free and reflexo- 

 patent at the apex ; anthers linear-oblong, bilobed at the base, exserted, 

 basifixed. Rudiment of ovary minute. Female flowers much larger 

 than the male, ovoid. Sepals ovate, imbricate at the base. Petals a 

 little longer than the sepals, erect, convolute-imbricate, entire or split 

 at the apex. Disk annular. Ovary ovoid or subcylindrical, 3-celled, 

 or by abortion 1-2-celled; style thick, pyramidal ; stigmas large, linear, 

 revolute ; ovule filling up the cell, micropyle subapical. Fruit ovoid or 

 obovoid, 1-3-seeded, intruded at the base, umbilicate at the apex; stigmas 

 terminal; pericarp spongy and oily, fibrous inside; endocarp thick, long, 

 with 3 pores above the middle. Seed adnate just below the centre of 

 the cell ; testa thin ; raphe reticulately branched ; albumen cartilagi- 

 nous, homogeneous, hollow ; embryo opposite a pore of the endocarp. — 

 Slender or tall, unarmed palms. Stem unbranched, erect or decumbent, 

 annulate, clothed with old petiole-bases. Leaves many in a terminal 

 crown, large, pinnate ; petiole short, thick, spiny on the margins or un- 

 armed, with a short open sheathing base ; leaflets ensiform, acuminate, 

 recurved at the base. Spadices interfoliaceous, short, thick ; peduncle 

 loosely clothed with acute bracts ; branches dense, male terminating in a 

 spine, female more robust ; spathes 2, complete, at length breaking up 

 into fibres ; male bracts very densely imbricate, connate into cupules ; 

 male bracteoles scale-like ; female bracts large, lanceolate, spinescent, 

 overtopping the flowers ; female bracteoles like the sepals. 



Species 1 in Tropical Africa, 2-3 in Eastern Tropical South America. 



